HR professionals are tasked with improving all aspects of the employee experience. Unifying Benefits and HRIS Software presents an opportunity to improve the benefit enrollment process for everyone involved. A unified platform automates manual processes, minimizes mistakes, and can streamline communications between HR, the employees and even the carriers. Thus eliminating the added stress of open enrollment caused by:
1) so much information needing to be communicated/distributed,
2) enrollment being a process that only happens once per year,
3) making sure employees enroll in the right benefits packages, and
4) tight enrollment deadlines while avoiding data errors.
Here are 5 reasons to unify benefit enrollment in the HRIS.
1. Simplify the process for your employees
Employees already have too many passwords and use multiple business applications daily to do their jobs. Because Open enrollment only happens once per year (not including qualifying events) adding yet another unfamiliar system to an already stressful process can cause frustration, errors and disengagement which will affect the employee experience.
Selecting an HRIS with full benefits administration capabilities provides employees with enrollment within a familiar environment they they probably use multiple times a week if not daily. Employees login to their HR self-service and during open enrollment have a new section for their benefits overview. Reviewing benefits within the primary HR user interface encourages more time reviewing and selecting benefits not struggling with unfamiliar platforms.
2. Ease Communication between the employee and the HR department
The single platform also streamlines communication. Enrollment notices, updates and alerts can be delivered electronically to the employee. The Open Enrollment link can be activated right in the employee home dashboard on the start date. Updates regarding benefits changes, plan overviews, enrollment deadlines, and other required notifications can be delivered through the self-service portal. Administrators have access to other methods like pop-up reminders and email notifications. This makes distribution of information regarding communicate plan benefits, required notices and plan comparisons easier without all the paper and extra work.
3. Create an overall better Onboarding Experience
For a new employee having a clear and simple onboarding checklist can make a huge difference on the first day. When the onboarding checklist includes benefit enrollment and plans, the process is more streamlined. New hires are already familiar with the UI from their application process, and now they have a single login to their full self service when the benefit and HRIS software are combined. This includes alerts and notifications, electronic informational brochures and instructions of the enrollment process and documents that you have complied with offering benefits to that employee.
4. Reduce the back and forth.
Any benefit administration tool can deliver automation for the enrollment process. But what about all the other work to get that enrollment data to payroll, the HRIS, the individual carriers? With OnePoint HCM all these systems are unified in a single database. With the added ability to build direct connections to thousands of benefit carriers. Unifying benefits and HRIS Software means less paper, fewer spreadsheets, no more standing at the copy machine, no more manual distribution of resources to your employees. No more paper forms or faxing plan elections by hand.
Your payroll department will love you for it! Eliminate the back and forth between your payroll administrator, the department assistants and clerks to enter data or complete exports and imports from various tools. More accurate electronic data eliminates human errors associated with Payroll processing, as well as enrollment submission to the carriers.
5. Improve benefits reporting and access to compliance documentation
Take a deep breath: Relax. by unifying benefits and HRIS software (and payroll), reporting is simplified. The data and information needed to demonstrate compliance to state and federal laws can be compiled and produced more efficiently. Your benefits data is readily available and visible in several standard reports like your Census, open enrollment status, retirement plan, ACA detailed summary and many more.
Use the custom report builder to customize these reports, auto send them periodically, or build new reports or dashboards and charts. This powerful reporting in the unified system keep you on top of benefits for various stakeholders including plan administrators, brokers, carriers and government agencies making it easier to monitor and keep compliant!
The end goal of unifying benefits and HRIS software is to have an error free and efficient enrollment period. Consolidating benefit administration and enrollment tools within the HR and payroll systems simplifies processes for employees and administrators so everyone can get enrolled easier while maintaining compliance. See our Benefits Administration Solutions to learn more about our capabilities to build custom fit HR/benefit solutions to streamline enrollment, onboarding, communication, reporting compliance and more.